In the fourth stage of the Tour de France, Zakkari Dempster of Australia crossed the finish line in Lille in 16th place for Team NetApp-Endura. Just like the day before, the 26-year-old was the team’s best rider. On the day before the cobblestone stage, the German team primarily focused on not losing any time in the general classification with their 26-year-old captain Leopold König.

“After losing time yesterday and given the winding roads at the end, today our goal was to get Leo safety across the finish line,” said Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director of the team in France. “We also knew that several teams wanted to try something in the middle of the stage heading into the mountain classification. That’s why we focused entirely on Leo today. As a result, today’s result completely met our goal for this stage.” After 163.5 kilometers, the Czech rider crossed the finish line in 41st place with the same time as all of the other classification riders. “We have every reason to be satisfied,” Poitschke said.

In the mass sprint at the end of the winding final stretch through the French metropolis of Lille, Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) once again proved to be the fastest rider, just has he was in London and Harrogate. The 26-year-old German clenched the win of the day just ahead of 27-year-old Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) of Norway and 22-year-old Arnaud Démare (Equipe FDJ) of France.

In the fourth stage of the Tour de France, the man of the day was once again 35-year-old Thomas Voeckler (Europcar). A four-time stage winner in the Tour de France, Voeckler set the pace of the race as an escapee for nearly 150 kilometers – and with a solo ride for the last 30 kilometers of those 150. The field finally caught him 16.5 kilometers before the finish line, at which point he fell behind.

Tomorrow the pros will face a new test of their endurance at the 101st Tour de France. Although the route from Ypres to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut is just 155.5 kilometers long and mostly flat, the second half of the route includes nine cobblestone sections on the terrain of the Paris-Roubaix classic race. “It will definitely be a decisive stage for the general classification,” Poitschke said. “We rode the route with Leo a few weeks ago and I had a very good feeling back then. Tomorrow the team’s goal will once again be to arrive with the best riders in the general classification.”